At 23m on first game I did think you did a mistake. You could have used Steven to call out the barman, then Walk the path home to call out his dudes. This would have allowed you a bigger bullet advantage
Edit: 2nd game, at 16m, after you won the shootouts, why didn’t you go and deny him some production? You could have let him with 3 production and 3 upkeep.
Very good catches. The answer to both is I was probably being overly conservative. In the first game, a failed pull on Walk The Path would have been devastating (well, a wasted opportunity), but at that point the chances were low so I probably made the wrong call.
I definitely very strongly considered denying the +1 from companhursts in the 2nd game, but again I was being conservative and feared a kidnapping. I guess I could have brought the whole posse to sit there (or close by in the TS) using Walk The Path, but then I’d be fighting both Bai Yang and Forster (2 studs instead of 1). I guess I like the fighting to happen at my home 
I made another stupid mistake the 2nd game and didn’t use Get Behind Me when I could have, but the next round ended up using them both anyway so it didn’t matter much in the end. That was the only big mistake I remember making, but I’m sure there were more.
I did feel you played super conservatively and straight into Kuzlin’s plan (which is to keep you at home and shoot you in the face ). I think against that sort of super-aggressive all-in deck you need to play more “control-y” to make them regret their starting upkeep. Not to mention not controlling the saloon turns off their home in ties (not that it matters much now that the home is banned). Sure, you risk kidnappin’ but then he’s still paying high upkeep staying at home and can’t control the town.
What I would have done different is: In the first shootout, you had Tommy Revenge’d and got a tie. You discarded Smiley and stayed for another round, where you lost Tommy as well. You should have instead lost Tommy to the tie (who couldn’t run away anyway), exit the shootout, then bring in Wiles for the comeback.
TBH against Khudzlin’s deck the best tactic is to keep your dudes together, otherwise Kidnapping + RAbbit Fu can really be painful. Hattie makes a difference, but you have to be a winner or be able to bring her back into posse.
I don’t know, I kind of like all the fighting to happen in my home - the bounty is very useful, and is a nice treat whenever a dude dies. I also agree I need to be more aggressive in sitting on income producing deeds against decks like his, as long as my whole posse can be there for a kidnappin if it’s the first thing that happens on the next turn.
I think my favorite moment of both those games was where I saw Khudzlin discarded a kidnappin at the end of his turn. Clearly that meant he already had one in hand, but that’s normally the exact card he’d be trying to get as many of as possible to take down my blessed dudes. I was very happy when I saw that, and knew he wasn’t very confident in a shootout!
This Blessed deck has defended against so many kidnappins between Shekky’s Des Row and Khudzlins 108 WD Rabbit Fu, and so far a vast majority of them have been unsuccessful - even turn 1 kidnappins. The combination of Hattie and Tommy, just by themselves, are extremely potent. Add a Pinto (3 in the deck), Pinned Down and/or extra cheatin punishment in hand and I don’t even need Miracles.
A starting posse featuring Hattie, Tommy and Thunder Boy cerainly makes people think twice about T1 Kidnappin’s.
Heck yeah, that is a terrifyingly powerful trio of dudes!
Dunno, I feel like Wendy is scarier 
Scarier, for sure, but harder to fit in a starting posse with the combination of high cost + upkeep.
Final showdown: tomorrow 3pm Central
Finals complete! Thanks to everyone to participated, and I look forward to seeing you all in the next Epitaph league!
